Machine



(No Model.)

3 Sheets-Sheet- 1. E. B. ALLEN.

HEEL LOADING MACHINE.

4 Patented Jan. 3, 1888.

N. PETERS, Phclo-Lrthognpher. Wnhingien. 01C.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

. E. B. ALLEN.

HEEL LOADING MACHINE.

Patented Jan. 3, 1888.

WIiJiJI'IEEEEE. I Ir w/ar iur. MQK mamliazzew n. PETERS. Phulrrl fimgmphur, Washington. ac.

(No Model.) 3 sneak-sheet '3@ E. B. ALLEN.

HEEL LOADING MACHINE.

No. 375,913. v Patented Jan. 3,1888.

555 135. II'Y/EFIJZUY.

W a? Paw/w Z9 WYQWW N. PETERS. PhokrLilhngnpher, Wzshiugum. n; a

UNITED STATES PATENT ()rrrce.

EDYVARD B. ALLEN, OF PORTLAND, MAINE, ASSIGNOR TO JAMES W. BROOKS, TRUSTEE, OF SAME PLACE.

HEEL-LOADING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 375,913, dated January 3, 1888.

Application filed March 10, 1887. Serial No. 233,370.

adapted to feed several nails into position above a series or set of nail-receiving tubes, and with means for moving the nails into the tubes.

The invention consists of a pair of feedingrolls between which passes a nail strip or carrier consisting, essentially, of a piece of flexible material carrying nails, substantially as shown and described in application,Serial No. 230,369, filed by me March 10, 1887. Suitable means are provided for moving the feedingrolls to feed the strip forward intermittingly. I also employ a nail-supporting device consisting, as herein shown, of a pair of clamps which engage and hold the nail-strip in position above the set or series of nail-receiving tubes of the heel-loading machine while the nails are separated or driven from the strip into the nail-receiving tubes below them. A second pair of feeding-rolls is provided for conveying the strip from the nail'supporting device.

Figure 1 shows, in side elevation a sufficient portion of a heel-loading machine of the class referred to with my improvements added to enable my invention to be understood; Fig. 2, a top view of the machine shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 3, a section taken through the feedingrolls and nail-supporting device on the dotted line at m, Fig. 1, Fig. 4, a vertical section of the machine shown in Fig. 1, taken on the dotted line yy. Figs. .5, 6, and 7 show details of the ratchetclutch mechanism, to be referred to; Figs.8 and 9, details of the operating-bars,

to be described; and Fig. l0,a modification to be referred to.

The framework or head A and the bed A,

(X0 model.)

supported by the uprights A are all of suitable shape and construction to sustain the operating parts of the machine. The bed A has erected on it studs M, on which are placed the feeding-rolls a a. Each feeding-roll a a is provided with a transversely grooved or fluted surface, and at each end each of the said rolls has a toothed surface, a a, which mesh one with the other.

The feeding-rolls a a are rotated by a ratchetclutch mechanism, herein shown as consisting of two toothed wheels, 0, 66 one of which is mounted loosely upon each stud a", the said toothed wheels a a each having upon its under side a series of ratchet-teeth, as shown in Fig. 5, which, when moved in one direction, engage a tooth or projection, a (see Fig. 7,) upon the upper side of a latch, a pivoted upon the upper side of the roll a, and pro vided with a tooth normallyheld protruding by aflat spring, a", the said latch being thereby free to yield against the tension of the spring as the wheel a is moved in the opposite direction. The toothed wheels a a are rotated to thus in turn rotate the feeding-rolls a a by a reciprocating double rack-bar, b, located between them, the teeth of the rack-bar engag ing the teeth of the said toothed wheels.

The nail strip or carrier 0, as herein shown, is composed of a strip or band of flexible material carrying nails and constructed as shown in the application referred to,and is fed between the feeding-rolls a a by the projections of the said rollers entering the indentations or notches between the said nails.

The rack-bar b is moved to and fro by a lever, 22, having its fulcrum at b on a bracket or stand, b the upper end of the said lever being loosely connected to a stud or roll, b, of the said rack, the lower end of the lever 12 entering the cam-groove D of the caingrooved disk Z2 (shown in plan View, Fig. 9,) secured to the rotating shaft 1), engaged by a driven bevel-gear, b meshing with a beveled gear, I), secured to the said shaft, the gear I) being driven in any suitable manner by adrive whcel and shaft. (Not shown.)

As the rack-bar b is-moved in one direction it engages and rotates the toothed wheels a a.

in one direction, while the ratchet teeth of the said toothed wheels engage and rotate the feeding-rolls, and as the rack-bar is moved in the opposite direction the toothed wheels a a" are also rotatedin the opposite direction, during which time the feeding-rolls remain idle.

The rack-bar b is arranged to move the toothed wheels, to thereby feed the nail-strip a sufficient distance to bring into position above a set or series of nail-receiving tubes, 2, (see dotted line, Fig. 1,) a nail for each tube.

The nail-strip is supported above the nailreceiving tubes'by a nailsupporting device, herein shown as two rectangnlarshaped clamps, dd, placed side byside, and suspended and made movable toward and from each other by two levers, d" d, pivoted to the head A on studs or pins 3 4, the opposite ends of the said lever carrying friction-rolls 5 6, which bear against the opposite sides of the periphery of a cam-disk, 0. (Shown in plan view, Fig. 8.) The cam-disk O is secured to a shaft, 0, carrying a bevel-gear, c, which is engaged and rotatedby a bevel-gear, e, secured to the shaft If, so that as the shaft 0 is rotated the camdisk 0 moves the levers d (1 toward and from each other, thereby moving the clamps d d to grasp and release the nail strip or carrier. The faces of the clamps d d are corrugated vertically, the nails in the strip resting loosely in the recesses, the projections catching and holding thenail-strip between the independent and detached nails therein, in order that the nails may be readily removed by the drivers. \Vhile the clamps d d are brought together, holding the nails above the tubes 2, aplungerhead, 71, having a series of plungers or drivers, ash, one for each tube, is caused to descend upon the nails of the strip, each of the several plungers removing a nail from the strip or carrier into tubes 2.

The plungerhead It moves in a guideway made in the head A of the machine, anda suitable projection or stud carrying a frictionroll is arranged to follow in a cam-groove cut in one face of the disk 0, (see Fig. 8,) so that the plunger head may derive its movement from the rotating disk. The cam disk 0 is thus made to move the nail-supporting device and the plunger longitudinally to support the nails and move the same into the tubes 2.

A second pair of feeding-rolls, n n, con structed substantially the same as the feedingrolls a a, above described, are placed at the exit of the nail-supporting device at (2, upon which the strip is fed, to thereby convey the flexible strip from the machine. This second pairlof feeding-rolls, provided with toothedsurfaced end portions and toothed wheels like the toothed wheels a a", are placed and made to rotate upon studs 24, like the studs (t the said toothed wheels being arranged to engage and disengage the feeding-rolls by a ratchetclutch mechanism substantially the same as the clutch mechanism employed to actuate the wheels a The rack-bar bis made of sufficient length to enter between the ratchet-toothed wheels and reciprocate them.

The operating-lever b is provided with a series of holes and the stand orbracket b with a similar series, to thereby vary the fulcrum, and hence the throw,of the lever; but I do not desire to limit myself to any particular construction or means of varying the fulcrum of the said lever.

In Fig. 10 I have shown a modified form of feeding mechanism composed of two sprocketchains, 40 41, driven by the sprocket-wheels, as 42, the said chains moving adjacent to each other and having their links so formed as to serve as a feeding-chain to convey the nailstrip forward beneath the driver or plunger. The chains pass between two guide-blocks, 44s 45, which keep the said chains so close together as to hold the nail strip firmly between the chains. The sprocket-wheels will be driven intermittingly to move the nail-strip forward some distance at each movement, so that a se ries of nails will be brought beneath the plunger at a time.

I claim 1. Ina heel-loading machine, a series of nailreceiving tubes and a series of drivers, combined with an intermittiugly-actuated pair of feed-rolls to feed forward under the drivers and above the tubesa nail-strip having an independent series of detached nails, and with other feeding devices, substantially as described, to take the said strip away from the drivers after the latter have ejected the nails into the said tubes, substantially as set forth.

2. In a heel-loading machine, the nail-receiving tubes and a pair of corrugated nailsupports, combined with means for moving forward intermittingly a nail-strip having independent detached nails, and with plungers for ejecting the said nails into the said tubes, substantially as described.

3. In a heel-loading machine, the supporting devices for the nail-strip and an intermittent feeding device, combined with a second feeding device for feeding or carrying the flexible strip from the machine after the nails have been removed therefrom, and with plungers for removing the nails, substantially as described.

4. In a heel-loading machine, the nailsupporting mechanism and feedingrolls for feeding the nail strip, combined wit-h toothed wheels and ratchet-clutch mechanism for moving the feedingrollsintermittingly, and means, substantially as described, for reciprocating the toothed wheels, substantially as described.

5. In a heelloading machine, a separable nail-supporting device for supporting several independent nails above a set of nail-receiving tubes, the faces of the said supporting device being eorrugated to grasp and hold the nail-strip between the detached and independent nails therein while the said nails are ejected therefrom, and means for supplying the nailsupporting devices with nails; combined with plungers for removing the nails from the nailsupporting devices, and with means for mov- 5 ing the plungel's and separating the nail-supporting devices alternately, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof Ihave signed myname scribing witnesses.

EDWARD B. ALLEN. Witnesses:

BERNICE J. NOYEs, F. L. EMERY. 

